Elastic stocking



SePt- 26 1933 E. PARKlNsoN 1,928,072

ELASTIC STOCKING INVENTOR EDWARD PARKINSON Patented Sept. 26, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE Refled for abandoned 281,169, May 28, 1928.

application Serial No.

This application November 10, 1932. Serial No. 642,121

13 Claims.

This invention relates to stockings and more particularly to surgical elastic anklets or bandages but it may be embodied yin any stocking. The principle of this invention may have a wide 5 variety of uses. It is capable of application to elastic supports for the elbow, knee or shoulder and may be applied to any similar article wherein a pocket is to be made.

Two important features of my invention are the fashioned instep and heel gusset which make one side of the tube longer than the other. By means of these features I am able to obtain maximum elasticity and Wear in an elastic stocking without binding about the foot and ankle due to tapes, seams and wrinkles. By fashioning the instep I am able to obtain a well tting article and one which will not wrinkle over the instep, and at the same time the heel gusset can be made without rubber and of heavier yarn to stand wear.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the mid-portion of a surgical elastic anklet made according to the invention.

Figure 2 is a plan view of the heel and instep of the inside of the anklet before seaming.

In forming an elastic anklet according to this invention full courses 1 are started at the top of the leg portion and are continued till near the instep, when, I make several partial reverse courses 30 2, which are successively reduced in length as the center 3 of the instep is approached. By partial reverse courses I mean a course containing elastic knit from the heel or base side of the anklet partway to the instep or apex side, combined with 35 the elastic turned and a return course knit back to the heel side again. These partial reverse courses are made on both sides of the center line of the unseamed fabric. After the heel gusset is made the partial reverse courses are increased in length correspd'ndingly as at 12, 13, 14, for example, as the knitting progresses away from the center 3 of instep and down the foot. In this manner the instep is fashioned to t the foot of the wearer.

I prefer to knit two full courses between adjacent partial reverse courses. It will be noted that, as a result, each partial reverse course of the fashioned instep is supported from two full courses and that each partial course is attached to a dif- .ferent full course. This construction tends to distribute the strain evenly over the instep and form a nicely tting instep.

By fashioning the instep the amountlof fashioning and elasticity necessary in the heel gusset,

described in detail later herein, is reduced and the heel may be made of inelastic fabric.

The heel of my anklet is characterized by a gusset 4 which is formed on the same machine that makes the other parts of the anklet. This is possible by means of improvements to the ordinary knitting machine, which improvements form no part of this invention. Thus I am able to make in one piece a full fashioned anklet which has no joinings or seams, except the customary seam up the back where the two sides 9, 10 of the anglet are joined. The seam up the back, of

course, is not essential to my invention. I prefer to make the heel gusset Without elastic as shown in the drawing. 70

The tapered gusset 4, is formed with the courses 5, thereof, parallel to the courses 6, of

the leg and foot portions to which they are adjacent. The courses of the gusset are for the most part, partial courses, but several of the courses go the full length of the gusset. The number of courses is reduced as the instep sido is approached from the heel side as now will be explained. It will be noted that the courses 5, 7, 8, 18, are of varying lengths but all of the courses start at the back of the heel and there! fore there is a large number of courses at the back of the heel and the number of courses decreases toward the end of the gusset, that is, over the ankle, for the reason that the shorter courses extend only part way to theend.

It will be noted that there are long gusset courses 5, parallel to and nearest the full foot and leg courses, while the short courses, 8, 18, are nearer the center of the gusset. However several of the longest courses 7, are near the center of the gusset and run tothe end of it to better support it and distribute the strain.

The strain of the heel through the gusset will not be transmitted at an angle to a single course of the leg or foot portions but each .partial course in the gusset will have the support of two adjacent gusset courses. 'Ihis construction gives added strength and durability to the anklet.

In articles of this nature in the prior art, it has been customary to support all the gusset courses from a single leg or foot course, toward which they usually approached at an acute angle. 'Ihis resulted in strain on the supporting course and caused a break in the article.

By my construction I am enabled to avoid overstrain on a single leg or foot course and to distribute the strain evenly throughout the heel.

O n account of fashioning the instepandmaking the heel gusset in the manner described it is not `courses on either side of necessary to make the gusset of elastic fabric. Sufficient resiliency is imparted to the gusset by the adjoining resilient leg and foot courses to have a perfect t without binding at any point. Due to the fact that the gusset need not necessarily be of elastic fabric, I can use a much stronger fabric in knitting it and since the heel is subjected to very hard wear as compared with other portions of the anklet, the use of stronger fabric to make a stronger heel is of very material and decided advantage.

Of course the gusset may fabric according to the spirit and within be made of elastic the be made of inelastic fabric if desired. It will be readily seen, therefore, that my invention is capable of many changes and modifications within its spirit.

This application is a refile for application Ser. No. 281,169 filed May 28, 1928. y

From the foregoing it is apparent that my invention is by no means limited to the embodiment in a stocking or anklet as shown. I therefore limit myself only by the following claims.

I claimz-f 1. A stocking having a fashioned instep containing a plurality of partial reverse courses above and below the instep, no two of said partial reversecourses on the same side of the stocking being attached to the same full course, said partial reverse courses decreasing in length toward the center of the instep, in combination with a tapered heel gusset.

2. An elastic stocking comprising a tube longer on one side than the other, the short or instep side being fashioned and containing a plurality of partial reverse courses of elastic material, said courses decreasing in length toward the center of the instep and a heel gusset on the longer side of said tube.

3. An elastic stocking having a fashioned instep formed of a plurality of partial reverse courses of elastic material, said courses decreasing in length toward the center of the instep and a fashioned heel gusset between the partial the center of the instep. s

4. An ela tic stocking having a fashioned instep formed of a plurality of partial reverse full course, said partial reverse courses decreasing in length toward the center of the instep in combination with a fashionedfheel gusset, made of relatively inelastic material.

5. An elastic stocking comprising a tube longer on one side than the other, the short or instep side being rfashioned and containing a plurality of partial reverse courses of elastic material said scope of my invention, or the whole anklet maycourses of elastic material each supported by ay courses decreasing in length toward the center of the instep and a heel gusset on the longer side of said tube, said heel gusset being made of relatively inelastic material.

6. An elastic stocking having a fashioned instep and a tapered heel gusset of comparatively inelastic material.

'7. An elastic stocking having a fashioned instep and a fashioned heel gusset, said stocking in the main being constructed of courses of elastic fabric but said heel gusset being composed of inelastic fabric having relatively greater strength.

8. In an elastic stocking comprising leg and foot portions, and a heel gusset-therebetween constructed of interspersed courses of varying length, the number of said courses decreasing from the back of the heel toward the instep, no two of said courses being supported by the same full leg or foot courses.

9. A tubular elastic support longer on one side than the other, said support having a gusset on the longer side of the support, in combination with a plurality of partial reverse courses of elastc material extending from the long side to fashion theshort side, said courses being .progressively shorter toward the gusset.

l0. A tubular elastic support longer on one side than the other, said support having a gusset on the longer side of the support, in combination with a plurality of partial reverse courses of elastic material extending from the long side to fashion the short side, said courses being progressively shorter toward the gusset, said plurality of partial courses being located on both sides of said gusset.

11. An elastic support having a long side and a short side, said short side being fashioned to t the part of the body supported, and a gusset of inelastic material on each side of the short side, said gussets widening toward and meeting at the long side.

12. An elastic support having therein a fashioned portion of inelastic material forming a pocket, said pocket containing a plurality of partial courses, the number of courses in said pocket being less at the end than at the middle, no two of the partial courses of said pocket being supported by any one course which is longer than the two partial courses.

13. An elastic support having therein a fashioned portion of inelastic material forming a pocket, said pocket containing a plurality of partial courses, the number of courses in said pocket being less at the end than at the middle, no course in said pocket supporting more than one course shorterthan itself.

EDWARD PARKINSON. 

